Car-Centric Choices Shortchange the Walkability Goals of the 2010 Tysons Comp Plan

Emily Hamilton, a research fellow and director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University’s Urbanity Project, checks in with the status of the transformation of Tysons ten years after the city adopted a comprehensive plan to take advantage of the arrival of light rail transit and a growing residential population in this corner of Fairfax County of Northern Virginia. 

According to Hamilton's assessment, Tysons has work to do to achieve the goals set forth in the plan. "The plan was heralded by the American Planning Association for seeking to transform a sprawling, highway-oriented area into a series of transit-oriented, walkable neighborhoods. So far, for all its progress, it has not ushered in an era of easy walkability," according to Hamilton. (The Tysons Comprehensive Plan earned the 2011 Daniel Burnham Award for a Comprehensive Plan from the American Planning Association.)

This is the second article by Hamilton evaluating the progress of the Tysons Comprehensive Plan. In the first article, Hamilton focused on the effect on walkability from the wave of new residential development in Tysons since 2010. This latest article focuses on the transportation planning choices that have limited the success of the plan:

A freeway and multiple major arterial roads cut through Tysons. The comprehensive plan calls for slowing cars down and transforming the arterials into tree-lined boulevards with wide sidewalks and medians that would make them safe for pedestrians.

At the same time, the plan promised to maintain commute times for drivers going to or through Tysons. To this end, policymakers have actually widened some Tysons arterials rather than making major improvements to them for walkers. To cross parts of Route 123, walkers have to traverse 12 lanes of traffic.

Still, according to Hamilton, the Tysons Comprehensive Plan was set up to succeed, and it's still possible to achieve all of the ambitious goals included in the plan.